Pakistan to enact freedom of information law
ISLAMABAD- Pakistan has agreed to enact Freedom of Information Act for obtaining loan of US $130 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), under which record of all financial deals (procurement, loan etc) of the government would be open to public scrutiny.
Official sources said that enactment of Freedom of Information Act, and Broadcasting Media Act is one of the seventeen conditions for soft ADB loan for administrative, judicial and police reforms.
The loan offer has come from the ADB and the federal government has asked the provinces to give their views by July 28. The federal government, however, has no objection to the conditionality set for the loan.
Under Access to Justice Programme, the government would get US$130 million if it implemented the report, prepared by consultants.
The authors of the report believe that freedom of information is the most important element in helping public institutions to become more responsive to citizens needs. If citizens have no access to information, no institution can be made accountable, including the judiciary.
Right to free speech and press freedom is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution. However no legislation was ever made to give effect to this constitutional provision, barring a half-hearted attempt by a caretaker government, which promulgated a truncated Freedom of Information Ordinance in 1997. The ordinance, however, was allowed to lapse by the next elected government on the pretext of making the law comprehensive.
The report, on the basis of which loan offer has come, wants the following concerns to be addressed while passing the permanent law.
Clear rules and restricted standards on classification of government documents be spelled out. The tendency to “over classify” must be curbed.
– The law should apply to both federal and provincial governments. Jurisdiction of the earlier ordinance, which was allowed to be lapsed, was limited to federal government.
– A pragmatic and incremental approach should be taken to the classification of documents for purposes of information requests.
– Consultation should be held with civic groups to negotiate an acceptable appeal procedure when a government agency decides to withhold information and the applicant seeks to challenge it. Appeals procedure before the Ombudsman’s office may not be effective.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/26/2001
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